Chuck Downs

My Day Job

Surprising as it may seem, cartooning and animating at night and on the weekends does not pay the bills. I’ve had the great fortune to work in progressively broader marketing roles at several of Tampa Bay’s best companies. I’m fluent in all aspects of the marketing spectrum, but branding and creativity is my passion. Over the past 25 years, I’ve been involved in and led a great many of corporate initiatives and campaigns. Here are a few of my favorite projects.

Cox Target Media

You might recognize CTM as Valpak, the envelope of coupons that shows up once a month in your mailbox. As a creative guy, I wasn’t sure what to expect at this company. But as a brand guy, I relished the opportunity to dust this legacy brand off and help give it new life. I’ve been lucky to lead a great team at Valpak, and we’ve accomplished a lot. But this new look and message, developed in collaboration with shopper marketing agency The Integer Group in New York, stands apart.

Also at CTM, we spun up a challenger brand to compete in the CPG and OTC coupon space. Dubbed SKUlocal, one of our more unique challenges was to create a web site for the cold and flu season. We decided to poke fun at “the office sicky” — that guy or girl who really should stay home, but instead comes to work with germs to share.

Lastly, I was very proud to work with our Director of Diversity & Inclusion to launch a community service campaign called Valpak Saves (get it?). We partnered with KaBoom! to build a playground at the Boys & Girls Club of Tarpon Springs.

Lifestyle Family Fitness

I served as vice president of Marketing for this regional chain of fitness centers that was sold to LA Fitness in 2012. One of the challenges LFF faced was competitive pressure from above and below — high-end clubs with luxury services, and no-frills clubs with low monthly fees. Our business solution was to “unbundle” the pricing structure and put the power of choice back in the hands of the consumer. Below is a TV spot and related collateral for the “Build Your Own Membership” campaign, developed in collaboration with Tampa-based agency Spark.

Tech Data

Tech Data is a Fortune 100 distributor of tech products, and it’s been around for more than 40 years. There’s a tendency for tech distribution to be viewed as just “pick, pack and ship.” Which it is… but there was an opportunity to tell a bigger story. The employee brand nerd in me wanted to remind everyone of all the great things that happen in the world because of that picking, packing and shipping. “IT depends on us” was the phrase we coined. The video below is a little basic, but it tells the story. We printed up enough of the brand books to hand each employee a little guidebook.